


golden and bright again

by Capitola



Series: Brenxattos Fluff [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, Multi, Parenthood, Polyamory, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capitola/pseuds/Capitola
Summary: Moments of family life, in a happy future.
Relationships: Luc Brenatto & Caleb Widogast, Luc Brenatto & Nott | Veth Brenatto, Yeza Brenatto/Nott | Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast
Series: Brenxattos Fluff [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127927
Comments: 46
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Better Place," by Rachel Platten. I needed to write something nice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caleb Widogast wakes up happy.

Caleb wakes up early, his last early-morning dream still ringing in his ears. Nothing unpleasant. Something about a library, though surely even that will be faded by the time he gets up.

His partners are still sleeping soundly: Yeza on his side, hair all mussed in one direction, and Veth on her back, snoring lightly. Caleb shifts over, carefully so as not to wake them, so he can watch as they sleep. He counts the minutes as they tick by, _6:42, 6:43, 6:44..._

His eyes linger on the heavy swell of Veth’s belly under her nightshirt, round as a clock ticking down to the day that they go from a family of four to a family of five. They hadn't _exactly_ planned on another child quite so soon, not even half a year after Veth came home for good and Caleb came with her. But, well, things happened. And they've made it work, are making it work.

Caleb thinks he is the most nervous of the three of them, having only been a parent to Luc for hardly more than a year, and having no experience with babies at all. He channels it out into restless energy, scribbling possible names on the margins of his notes (eight months along and they _still_ haven't settled on a proper name yet), into doing more and more of the housework as the baby slows Veth down and Yeza stays busy with the shop. 

Caleb has started knitting again, too, remembering the firm guidance of his mother's fingers as he worked his way through a baby blanket, a tiny sweater, and booties that fit over his thumbs. Luc was jealous of new things for the baby, and so Caleb is working on a sweater for him now, and a little stuffed cat. 

(Luc insists that being seven-almost-eight, old enough to learn a bit of magic and be a big brother, means he is too old for soft toys. Caleb has learned that children of seven-almost-eight are given to making big pronouncements about how mature they are, but not following through.)

Veth had stopped snoring a few minutes ago, he realizes, as she blinks awake, rubbing sleep from her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"Help me up," she grumbles, voice still thick with sleep. "Your daughter's kicking at my bladder."

Veth claims her intuition allows her to be certain that the baby is a girl ("not that it _matters_ , of course, but I know what I know"), but none of them have any idea whether Caleb or Yeza is the baby's father by blood. It doesn't matter. The child's surname will be Brenatto either way, and they'll both be fathers to it.

Caleb gives her a little boost, as she climbs off the bed carefully, the mattress giving a slight bounce. She gives his hand a little squeeze before she dashes off for the bathroom. On the other side of the bed, Yeza turns over, pressing his face firmly in the pillow with the deliberate motions of a man who is awake and the sleepy clumsiness of one who does not yet want to be. 

"I'll start breakfast," Caleb murmurs, leaning over to press a soft kiss to the visible part of Yeza’s brow.

“You’re a dear,” Yeza says. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

“I’ll send Luc up after you if you’re not up by the time breakfast’s ready,” Caleb laughs, getting up to put on his dressing gown. Luc’s usually up well before any of his parents are, he’s at the age where any extra moment spent asleep is a moment wasted. 

Sure enough, he intercepts Luc and Nugget up to some mischief in the hallway, mischief that stops immediately when they spot Caleb. 

“You want to help me with breakfast?” Caleb asks, bending down to be closer to eye level.

“Can it be pancakes?” Luc says, excitedly.

“Pancakes?” Caleb repeats, with mock indignation, half-chuckling. “On a Whelsen? When I was a boy, we would never _dream_ of asking for pancakes on a Whelsen.”

“Well, sure,” says Luc, who has learned to argue at his mother’s knee. “But that was a _very_ long time ago.” 

And Caleb laughs, really laughs, as he ruffles his son’s hair and they walk down to the kitchen, Luc chattering on about the many things in the kitchen that might possibly be added to pancakes, and Caleb thinks _yes, it certainly was._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veth Brenatto relaxes by the water.

People who live in Nicodranas (and Veth Brenatto has, for the past few tax seasons, paid property taxes on a very handsome storefront with ample living space upstairs in a modestly fashionable district of Nicodranas), know where the good beaches are. The ones that thread the needle of not smelling too much like fish  _ and _ not being overrun with tourists down at the seaside for their health. The ones with more shells and sea glass than trash, close enough to the food stalls for a quick bite but not so much that they smell like greasy food. 

Under a big beach umbrella, reclining against a cushion, Veth reflects that this is a very good beach indeed.

There are good days and there are days where she’d just rather not have to think about getting in the water, and though she hadn’t wanted to spoil the beach day, today is certainly one of the latter. She’s alright sitting back, not quite reading the book propped on her belly and not quite dozing. Yeza and Luc are down at the waves, just close enough that she can hear their voices but not pick out the words. Caleb went back up the beach for fish and chips some fifteen minutes ago. 

It’s an unseasonably warm day, in late-fall-almost winter, but winter in Nicodranas is already much milder than anything Veth grew up with. In Felderwin children were warned about the dangers of going swimming past the harvest festival, but here you might have a good beach day in Horisal. The luxury of it is very satisfying to her, as is almost everything about her life these days.

She thought she’d be nervous about another baby, after all this time, but she doesn’t have any of the jitters that she remembers from when she was this far along with Luc. Maybe it’s because she’s already a parent, and maybe it’s because she’s got a bit more in the way of lived experience besides that, but she’s looking forward to meeting this child without too much in the way of trepidation. Even if it means no more adventures abroad for a little while.

If she could go back in time and tell herself one thing, it's this: you get to  _ have _ things. Nice things. Not just things no one would miss, like buttons from the ends of coats and pretty rocks that you find out walking. Not just things that are only yours because nobody notices you taking them. But you can have friends even though your voice never gets less shrill, and people who love you, even though your front teeth are too close together. You can have a home and a business in a town where almost nobody knew you when you were a frumpy, awkward little girl. You can have a family with the man who loves you even though he did know you back then, and the man who knew you when things were even worse. 

Caleb comes back, shoes in one hand and four butcher-paper fish and chips packets balanced on the other arm. He drops his shoes and waves until he gets Yeza’s attention, long arm swinging in the wind. There's a grumble of protest from Luc, and Yeza holds up a hand,  _ five more minutes.  _

Caleb sinks down to sitting cross-legged on the blanket, and passes Veth one of the packets. She tears into it readily, and he does the same with one of the others. As a family, they have an ongoing debate about which fish and chips stall is the best, and though she and Caleb disagree, these are definitely from  _ her _ favorite place. They spend a moment in silence, that satisfied silence of the beginning of a meal. 

"Lena is a nice name," Caleb says, starting up the game again.

"Lila is a nice name," Veth replies.

"Nelly."

"Nora." They’ve been doing this for months, ever since they found out she was expecting. Somehow, none of them have seemed quite right yet, even though it feels as though they must have been over every name in the world already.

Caleb pauses a moment, to think. "Tonia."

"Tilly."

"Elly."

"Cari."

Caleb frowns. "Is that with a 'c' or a 'k'?"

"With a ᚲ." Veth says, cheekily, and Caleb gives her the frustrated, indulgent look you give when someone you love makes a bad joke. "A 'c' would probably be fine."

Yeza and Luc come up to join them finally, Luc walking uncharacteristically gingerly and using his shirt to carry a bundle of something. 

"Got you shells, Mom!" He says, spilling out a wet, sandy assortment of shells next to her onto the blanket. He shakes his shirt out once or twice and puts it back on, completely unbothered by the sand. 

"Oh, would you look at these!" There's a bright pink end of a conch, an angel wing with a chip in its delicate side, half an oyster, several spiral and round snail shells, and a pebble of well-worn blue sea glass. 

"Are they good ones?" Luc asks. He's gotten a handle on the fact that she likes some odds and ends better than other odds and ends, but he doesn't quite have an eye for all her criteria yet. 

"They're lovely," she says, sitting up to give him a hug. She knows he’s getting to the end of the age where he’ll accept a hug from his mother without grumbling about being too old for such affection, but today he still smiles, still returns the hug. 

“There were more, too, but I didn’t know if they were good ones. Can we go pick out more?” Behind Luc, she can see Yeza and Caleb’s expressions freeze, both of them ready to provide her with excuses if she’s not up to going down all the way to the ocean today. But she smiles, and nods. 

“After lunch.” she says, with a mother’s authority, and she can see her partners relax.

“Okaaaaaay,” Luc says, accepting the packet Caleb hands him. “Can I use my shirt to carry them again?”

“How about for a backup? In case your mom’s pockets fill up?” Yeza knows as well as she does that the pockets in all Veth’s skirts run deep, and that she sews them in tight just for occasions such as these. She smiles at him, and at Luc, and at Caleb.

It’s a blessing to be among family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had intended for this to be just a one-shot, but I had an idea for another chapter, and (if it doesn't get completely jossed by this week's episode), I think I have a third in the wings.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Winterling42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42) and [asterCrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterCrash)for reading over this.
> 
> Comments and kudos keep me in business <3 You can also find me on [tumblr](https://capitola.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/knitinerant).


End file.
